Thursday, March 08, 2007

At last

[Quote of the post] "I don't expect any help. Come on, this is Singapore." -Ms Audrey Yeo, pregnant lady caught in Wednesday tremors[Song of the post] What you Own - Rent

I haven't posted in a long time. I guess I didn't feel like writing anything.

I had something to write on Monday. I didn't get down to writing it. It's now Thursday night. I've been sick for three days. It kinda says something, that when you're out of things for three days, and you're behind by a week. Just goes to show, I guess.

These are the things I wanted to say on Monday.

Chapel was some video about making choices. Mostly talking about pre-marital sex, and the horrors of abortion. In the movie, someone said something about "abortion being like murder". Then Jarrel said something; he said, "Sure it is, but war is too." So on the one hand, we have people arguing about the crimes of abortion, how it takes another human life etc. While they still go to war, taking countless of other human lives. Isn't war a choice too? Maybe we should start aborting war instead of just warring about abortion.

The second is that of marks. I think I'm repeaeting this over and over again; the fact that our world system of living is based on marks has detrimental effects on the individual. I read in The New Paper today, forums page, about an previous article, titled "Embarassed by getting only 4 A1s". There was this person who wrote in, and again brought up the examples of the Happiness Rating and how Singapore was at the bottom, and how we should reevaluate our value system if it is only marks that make us happy, etc.

I parodized What you Own last week, in an attempt to alleviate my thoughts on this matter. I tried keeping to the spirit of the song as much as possible; in as such it's not a very good parody.

Don't think too deepCan't take all dayFile more homeworkGotta get that 'A'Those distinctions, all look the sameLetters to extend your name

You're living here in SingaporeWhere you gotta get that perfect scoreYou're living here in SingaporeLeave your conscience at the toneAnd when you're living here in SingaporeWhere you gotta get that perfect scoreYou're who you pwn

You study from eight to threeFor the test at the end of yearThey say if you get all correctIt'll help in your careerJust sharpen those pencilsJust spam everything in detailJust don't have fun or you will fail

You're living here in SingaporeWhere you gotta get that perfect scoreYou're living here in SingaporeDerive x from the unknownAnd when you're living here in SingaporeWhere you gotta get that perfect scoreYou're who you pwn

I've no time for emotionHesitate, debate, or doubtWhat's all the commotionAbout

Why do we all have to fightLet money be what makes the world go roundFor once, can you just live with 'not right'For once, can you just look around

Numbers, percentage, they're all just some fractionsA pass mark, a fail mark; you've got it all wrongEveryone- just He's just crazyCalls me a hypocrite MoneyI'm trying to change the world Ka-ching!I quit!

Dying here in SingaporeWhere you gotta get that perfect scoreI'm dying here in SingaporeSo freeze your soul in stoneAnd when you're dying here in SingaporeWhere you gotta get that perfect scoreYou're all alone

You're all aloneYou're all alone

-----Monday during Chinese, Laoshi gave us this article, about this Chinese performer and philanthrophist, who gave away all his money, borrowed money to donate, and died of cancer. So there we were, talking and discussing his motives and his intentions, and then I realized I spoke what I am doing. He and I are so very much alike. But the thing about not caring about yourself, means you care for your family too, because they're not yourself.

That's Monday sorted out. Today I was sick at home again. In the morning I glanced at the newspapers. There was this article in The New Paper about who we should save in a real emergency, relating to the tremors which shook the nation on Wednesday. It mentioned pregnant women walking down about a dozen floors in their office buildings for evacuation. It then goes on to say that many disabled, elderly, and all "unnormal" people (no offence implied here; the word "unnormal" is used for the lack of a better one) have resigned themselves to the fact that they will have to be left behind in an evacuation. The quote of the post is from Ms Audrey Yeo, one of the pregnant ladies caught in the tremors. If that isn't a bigger insult to the moral standards to our nation, I don't know what is. "Come on, this is Singapore." It's obvious. It's expected. That's the way even our own citizens think.

Money doesn't make the world go round. Gravity still has that job. But money is starting to be something necessary to human survival because, if you don't have money, you can't buy food, your water supply gets cut off, you get evicted; very soon you can't even afford to buy the air you breathe. And all because humans can't give something for nothing. Just think, if everybody in the world were paid in thank yous. I'm not asking you to go back in time and change the invention of money or anything. Just think, if all the money in the world, right now, would disappear forever, and the world just exchanged their work for thank yous. Just think. The greatest payoff in having someone appreciate your time and effort. Do you think we can do that? As a people, on this planet, can we do that? This is probably the most important thing I am going to say in here: if you just forget, for one moment, that we are supposed to be a "fallen" people; if you forget, for one moment, that the world is stuck as it is and cannot be changed; if you forget, for one moment, the barriers that you placed at the entrance of a path that you are too lazy or too scared to walk down, and take a look at the end of that path. And just think. Is it worth it to walk down that path, just to get there?